Archive for ‘Community’

Soup Kitchen at Unidos por Siempre

As a natural extension and reflection of relationships created through house building, Doxa’s education program provides scholarships and resources to children in Tijuana. We target the same neighborhoods in which we have built houses, thus reflecting the natural progression of shelter being a primary need and education coming next. In the long-run, education empowers youth to break the cycle and mindset of poverty which is so prevalent in Tijuana.

Doxa’s scholarship program meets children on a holistic level, taking an individualized approach to the success of each student. This intimate knowledge helps guide exactly what resources and assistance the student needs to be successful. Some examples include tuition fees, school uniform, transportation, books, school supplies, shoes, access to Internet and technology, glasses, health care, counseling services, good role models, fun and disciplined learning environment, and sense of purpose.

A few years after starting an education program, Doxa realized that an after-school program was needed. This provides a natural conduit for ongoing communication and a place for homework to be completed. Recognizing that most schools in Mexico are only half-day and almost all parents work a full day; the after-school program fills the niche of the other half. The after-school program not only affords the resources, tutors, and space for homework completion, it also provides a safe, respectful, and disciplined atmosphere for young students to grow.

In recent years, as Doxa has expanded its education program to East Tijuana, we used the blue print from our 10+ years of experience in West Tijuana. First is relationally equipping students to succeed. Which entails surrounding kids with competent tutors and coaching their parents (or responsible adult) to be a positive voice when it comes to education. Maria and Angeles serve as these strong voices and coaches in East Tijuana. Second is materially equipping students to succeed. Which simply entails school supplies, uniforms, tuition fees, and other necessities. 

In 2019, Doxa helped build a classroom addition onto Unidos por Siempre. This serves as the education home base for East Tijuana. A dedicated place for the after-school program and where Angeles, who is Doxa’s East TJ Education Administrator, can work directly with students. Angeles says that “having an education classroom really adds permanence and structure to the scholarship program, student success is more easily attainable with the right resources at hand.” 

Earlier this year, Maria and Angeles brought up another need throughout East Tijuana. They noticed food insecurity becoming more prevalent and negatively impacting students’ performance in the classroom. Erika, whose children are scholarship recipients and lives in East Tijuana, shared that for many families “sometimes there is enough to eat and sometimes not. There isn’t always something constant, that you can depend on.” Since the education program is a holistic approach, we brainstormed solutions of how best to address food insecurity among Doxa’s scholarship students. 

It quickly became clear that a soup kitchen operated at Unidos por Siempre was the best answer. All the tools we needed were lying right in front of us: using the existing kitchen facilities at Unidos por Siempre, Panchita as the cook, and Angeles to help organize and administer. A nutritious and healthy lunch is prepared every day and something that each student can count on. For students that go to classes in the mornings, they arrive at Unidos por Siempre around 1pm and eat lunch together. Then, they head up to the classroom for dedicated homework time with Angeles. For students that go to classes in the afternoons, they arrive at Unidos por Siempre around 9am and do their homework with Angles; once finished, they eat lunch and leave around 12:30pm for afternoon school. 

Panchita’s menu is diverse and well-balanced. The usual tacos, enchiladas, quesadillas, beans and rice are present and accounted for. But various fruits, soups, salads, sandwiches, and vegetables also appear regularly. Specialty items such as mole, pozole, and tamales appear less often, but are so looked forward to by everyone! Panchita says that “my heart is filled when stomachs are filled and people eat my food with pleasure.” She’s the right person for the job! 

The addition of a soup kitchen is proving to be an excellent complement to Doxa’s East Tijuana education program. Maria shares that “a child that is well-fed and well attended to is going to learn more.” The soup kitchen creates healthy eating habits in community and ensures food security through the access to quality food on a consistent basis. Using Unidos por Siempre also provides a central location that is decent, respectable, and appropriate for people to gather throughout the day. 

The soup kitchen opened in October of this year, and Doxa intends to continue its operation through at least 2024. If it continues to grow and becomes an integral part of student success in East Tijuana, Doxa would love to make it a permanent offering for East Tijuana students. We’ll continue to monitor and evaluate over the next year, as the soup kitchen grows!

Stories of Family Growth

Without really realizing it, Doxa has been unofficially engaging in community development for many years. House building has organically transformed entire communities and continues to serve as a turning point for many families. 

At Doxa, we like to say that house building is really just an ‘excuse’ to get to know a family. Then, enrollment in Doxa’s education program is an ‘excuse’ to continue the relationship through regular touch-points, such as the after-school program. Finally, Doxa’s community center programs are an ‘excuse’ to intentionally journey and grow with each family over the long-run. It’s a beautiful progression that flows naturally. Wherever families join us, there is a space for them. 

Doxa’s community center includes summer camp, parenting classes, dance groups, exercise classes, art seminars, music classes, community events, and various types of counseling sessions. We have established ways for meeting new people, places for gathering together, and more officially recognized our role in community development that leads to family growth. Doxa functions as a pipeline to deliver impactful programing and resources for Tijuana families. Over the years, we’ve come to realize one of our core strengths is people gathering. 

However, it’s not just that Doxa facilitates these various community offerings. It’s more about how Doxa does it. In our case, the how matters just as much as the fact that the programs exist. Doxa puts relationships first, understanding that we are all flawed yet, part of a larger family that journeys along. We know that investment in families means prioritizing time, empathy, understanding, and love above all else. Extending unconditional grace as Jesus has done unto us, creates a safe place where people can lay down their burdens. 

We asked a couple families to share their experiences with Doxa: 

Vianey Guadalupe has been involved at Doxa for about 2 years and is currently in 9th grade. Her mother, Vianey Karina, sees “mutual respect, coexistence, friendship, love, and presence” as Doxa’s strengths. She says that “it isn’t so much the economic support, but the personal investment of time and opening of community that has made a difference. With my older son, he didn’t have this same support and I really struggled with him. With Vianey, Doxa came to help with education and her growth as a person.” 

It isn’t so much the economic support, but the personal investment of time and opening of community that has made a difference… Doxa came to help with education and her growth as a person.

Vianey Karina, parent

Haziel has also been coming to Doxa for about 2 years and is currently in 7th grade. His mother, Rubi, says Doxa’s values include “respect, tolerance, peace, humility, and patience. All things that Ely and Sabino show on a daily basis.” Haziel agrees that “the best quality of Doxa are the teachers, they have a lot of patience with us and help us to succeed. We end up surprising ourselves because we can do things that we thought we could not.”

Doxa has, furthermore, been a catalyst for family growth, particularly in Vianey Karina’s mother-daughter relationship. She shares that “as a mom, I’ve seen Vianey improve in school, she’s now an [A/A-] student. Regarding her as a person, she has changed a lot. I think we are now in our best chapter of mother-daughter relationship that we have had. Especially when it comes to communication. We have a closeness that we lacked during her elementary school days. I love that she has a peer community in Doxa and they come over to the house to hang out. That they grow-up together. We have both grown, along with my husband.” Vianey Guadalupe echoes some of the same ideas, saying “Before Doxa, I didn’t have as much trust in my parents. Now, I tell them more details and even ask for their advice. I have liked the togetherness and community at Doxa. I’ve made a lot of friends. Before, I wasn’t a very social person. And I consider Doxa my second home. I feel very comfortable here and I like to come as often as I am able.” 

Rubi, who is Haziel’s mother, reflects on how involvement in Doxa’s activities has impacted her son’s life. She says that her “experience with Doxa has been excellent. Haziel has higher grades and has matured a lot. There are lots of activities in Doxa; guitar, music, and dance group involvement have resulted in Haziel being more cheerful and open. I’ve loved to see his growth and motivation to stick with these activities. Overall, the advances in school have been noticed by the teachers.” Rubi continues on to say that she is “very proud of my son, seeing him excel in the various activities. At his last dance performance, watching him perform; I said to myself, I’m a very privileged mom to have Doxa in my son’s life.” 

When talking with Vianey Karina, who is Vianey Guadalupe’s mother, it’s clear she values Doxa’s staff. She says “I have full trust in Doxa, because of Ely and Sabino. As a mom, you observe day in and day out the responsibility that they have for our kids and how seriously they take it. These people deserve my trust.” She goes on to share that “Doxa helps with the growth of our children. Every day we hope our kids will get a little bit better and Doxa plays an active role in that process, cultivating values and the foundations needed.” Surrounding families with the right people and role models makes a difference. For this reason, Doxa invests in its staff for the long-term, to have permanence in others’ lives. 

Every day we hope our kids will get a little bit better and Doxa plays an active role in that process, cultivating values and the foundations needed.

Vianey Karina, parent

Rubi says that she also trusts in Doxa “because it’s a community of people I know and have provided me the help that I needed as a single mother.” She continues on that “Doxa represents a gigantic help for kids, that learn, that have fun, that interact with each other in a safe, respectful place. Besides all the activities, Doxa provides things for parents, such as the exercise classes in the mornings and community events.” Rubi wants to “thank everyone who’s behind Doxa, without it we wouldn’t be who we are today. And Doxa’s kids are who they are because of you, and giving with a loving heart.” 

Finally, when closing out our time together, Rubi smiles and says with a laugh that “sometimes I have to discipline Haziel, and his punishment is not coming to Doxa. It always works.”

We Don’t Know What We Don’t Know

It was my 8th grade science teacher who first introduced me to the concept of “we don’t know what we don’t know.” Sounding funny at first, but is so true. Every decision we make has some element of unknown that we are unaware of. In Tijuana, Doxa has seen this happen frequently with youth who have to make decisions about school and work earlier on in life. Without the opportunity or access to try new skills, learn new things, and more fully develop their giftings these critical decisions are made with far too little information. 

Schools in Tijuana operate on a permanent half-day schedule. This allows school buildings and teachers the ability to service twice as many students. However, it also means significantly less classroom time for students. While students receive the usual core subjects, such as math, history, reading, and writing, almost all schools lack access to the performing arts, visual arts, sports, technology, and counseling services. Furthermore, as students finish high school and look towards college, they must declare a major prior to enrollment. This pre-mature decision, forces them into a path with too many unknowns. 

Likewise, Doxa has found that youth who decide to exit school prior to finishing college, often choose work in the same area as their parents. While not necessarily a bad thing to do what your family has done, youth need to be empowered to experience the world and have the opportunity to develop their own giftings before making such a large life decision. After all that, if they decide to follow in their family’s footsteps, that’s great. And if they choose a different path, that’s great, too. This is at the heart of Doxa’s value of empowering young people

Recognizing the void of access to the performing arts, visual arts, sports, technology, and counseling services, Doxa sees an opportunity. Several years ago, Doxa started with a little dance group called Yelitza. Juan Sabino, the dance instructor, has since grown that group into one of the premier youth dance groups in Tijuana. Over the years, kids have shown a curiosity and desire to learn dance. They keep showing up! 

Earlier this year, Doxa’s Tijuana staff assessed what other opportunities we may have been missing and how best to address them. The top three were visual arts, music, and counseling. Over the past several months, we have undergone pilot programs in each of these areas. Ultimately, the goal is to grow Doxa’s offerings into permanent programs. I had the opportunity to interview a few of the newer instructors earlier this week. 

Susy is Doxa’s art teacher. She started with Doxa about 6 months ago in partnership with Tijuana’s cultural center and has a background of working with vulnerable communities. She believes that “art is therapy that changes lives” and that “art is important for the full human being because it opens doors that allow us to develop our talents.” She has seen how autistic kids have used art as therapy to become more independent and others have used art to calm their anxiety attacks. Susy hopes that exposure to visual arts will spark “changes in kids’ personality, growth in their confidence, self-esteem, and the skill of working in teams.” Susy’s motivation comes from her belief that cultivating the next generation of adults starts now, with how we treat and view the youth around us. She says that “while I may not be able to change a kid’s life in one day, I can help them to express themselves and mitigate their burdens through art.” 

Manuel is Doxa’s music teacher. For about the past 8 months, he has been teaching acoustic guitar and singing. His classes consist of teaching basic cords, rhythms, reading music, singing, and putting it all together in a finished song. His class’s first public performance was last month at Doxa’s fall fair. Manuel knows that his music classes are a success when “kids enjoy the class, learn the song, and their parents like what their kids have done.” While Manuel provides the instruction, he often lets students pick which songs they’d like to learn. He sees motivation in each student to keep getting better. 

Jorge is a psychologist, who works with Doxa a few times per week. He works with groups of elementary-age kids and adolescents. The age-appropriate workshops focus on emotional intelligence, depression, anxiety, family trauma cycles, and identity. Jorge has also dedicated time to grieving and processing losses experienced by the pandemic. Almost every single student at Doxa has experienced the loss of someone since March 2020. In addition, Jorge provides one-on-one sessions where necessary. Jorge strives to “form human beings who are emotionally intelligent and conscious of their surroundings, that can accept their errors and see them as a learning opportunity, that will be empathetic and help others without wanting anything in return.” 

While Susy, Manuel, and Jorge have all been a tremendous value-add for Doxa this year, it is only the start. Susy hopes to undertake a community-wide mural next year. Manuel can expand classes to other instruments besides acoustic guitar. And Jorge would love the opportunity to work with parents, as so much more progress can be made when families are in sync with each other. Additionally, Doxa sees opportunity in the areas of sports, technology, and engineering (to name a few). Whether through partnership with other organizations or directly with subject-matter experts, Doxa can facilitate impactful programing that exposes youth to the world around them. 

Doxa’s community center is a gathering place and facilitator of quality programming. Ely, Doxa’s director of operations, has worked hard to build a pipeline that can be flexible to changing needs. A way to bring experts into the community to share their passions and knowledge. These opportunities afford Doxa’s youth exposure to new things and a safe space to explore their curiosity. A way to find out what they like and don’t like. Youth emerge better-equipped to make decisions in their own lives and know a little more about themselves and the world around them. Doxa serves as a stepping-stone to greater things. 

20th Anniversary of Unidos por Siempre

On October 12, 2022 Unidos por Siempre celebrated its 20th anniversary. A big milestone for any organization. Located in Rojo Gomez, a neighborhood in Eastern Tijuana, Unidos por Siempre has seen its surroundings change dramatically. Back in 2002, Rojo Gomez was largely vacant land with no utilities, schools, or infrastructure. Nowadays, Rojo Gomez is much more developed with access to running water and electricity (in most areas), schools that offer K-12 classes, some paved roads, and stores. Just as the surrounding neighborhood has evolved over the past 20 years, so has Unidos por Siempre. Maria, who founded Unidos por Siempre, and Angeles, who grew up and now works at Unidos por Siempre shared some of their experiences over the past 20 years. 

Angeles explained that Unidos por Siempre has gone through three major chapters in its life: soup kitchen, orphanage, and social assistance. The constant, though, is its commitment to the Rojo Gomez community and maintaining relevance by adapting to changing needs. 

From 2002 until 2008, Unidos por Siempre was only a soup kitchen. Angeles was just 6 years old at the time and remembers helping to bring out chairs and tables each day for other kids to come and eat lunch. She vividly recalls that one of the tables was made of particle board and the corner would slowly get chipped away from all its use. Maria remembers a big tree that used to provide shade, but also get in the way. During those years, Unidos por Siempre established itself as a place where the community could come to eat and gather for a little bit each day. 

Then, from 2008 until 2020, Unidos por Siempre became an orphanage. Angeles remembers that it all started with a pull-out couch, which was the first bed. She recalls there being a mountain of kids around as they would have pajama parties regularly. Maria reminisces on all the energy and excitement there was as more beds and rooms were slowly added. Most kids were from the surrounding community and needed outside support to survive. There were also some kids from DIF that the government temporarily placed there. Maria is proud about those days, in which they didn’t always have everything needed, but did they best they could. What they lacked in resources, they made up for with kids and community. 

Maria specifically recounts three kids who have had a lasting impact on her. Osvaldo came to live at Unidos por Siempre when he was 9 and was very timid a first. What ended up bringing him out of his shell was the food and sharing mealtime with everyone. He lived at Unidos por Siempre for years, ended up completing college, and is now a criminologist. Luis is another child who grew up at Unidos por Siempre, who is now an engineer. Gustavo is yet another child to complete college and is now an accountant. Maria’s face beams with pride as she recounts their stories, like she’s being taking on a trip down memory lane herself. 

Angeles calls the current chapter of Unidos por Siempre “social assistance.” While there are still kids who call Unidos por Siempre their permanent home, it is not the same quantity or need that the orphanage used to fulfill. Angeles explains that the community of Rojo Gomez isn’t quite as poor as it used to be and the needs are slowly changing. Maria adds that the main focuses of Unidos por Siempre are now temporary housing for kids and families, education, childcare, and food. Maria’s desire and call to the community of Rojo Gomez is as strong as ever, even as needs change. 

When asked about the legacy of Unidos por Siempre, Maria gets a little emotional and conveys her hope that each person passing through would know and love God, be well-educated, and learn the value of cleanliness. She states that the best inheritance she can leave for kids is a good education. Angeles agrees and adds that her journey to finish college wasn’t always easy, but wouldn’t have been possible without Unidos por Siempre’s help. 

Today, Maria sees the impact of her many years of work as most of the kids still keep in contact. She gets invited to quinceañeras, weddings, and baby shows. It’s not uncommon for her to see kids that grew up in Unidos por Siempre with kids of their own now. Just as Unidos por Siempre has made a big difference in the lives of many children, Maria has also come out changed. It’s impossible for anyone to forgot those formative years together. 

Maria closes our time together on a note of thankfulness. She is grateful for all the help and opportunity to know so many people. She has crossed paths with kids, Tijuana government officials, volunteers, families, and various partners on both sides of the border. She’s joyful and thankful to have been in a position to invest time, love, and care into so many lives that have come through Unidos por Siempre. 

Youth Development in Pedregal

One of Doxa’s values is empowering youth, to help develop the entire person as they grow. This can be seen in house building, education, and community programming. In the areas of education and community, Doxa has experienced its middle and high school age kids grow significantly in number. This is a product of scholarship students who have practically grown up with us for the past several years. 

This past summer, we specifically felt called to offer more age-appropriate experiences for middle and high school aged youth to mature and develop. As Doxa continues to grow, we would like to continue developing offerings for older kids. 

First was summer camp, during the entire month of July. Doxa welcomed a total of 94 kids to summer camp. Typically geared towards elementary aged kids, this year offered several activities for middle and high school aged kids. Activities included teamwork on various environmental projects, making a pitcher out of plaster, volleyball, and making new paper out of recycled paper materials. 

Second was a dance group exchange, where some of the older kids in Doxa’s dance group (called Yelitza) were given the opportunity to train with a professional dance group (called Ixchel). This exchange provided them with exceptional experience working alongside dance professionals in Tijuana. Maybe some of our dance students will pursue this in the future! 

Third was a camping trip to a ranch just outside of Tecate. The overnight was full of activities, games, a hike, campfire, and some work with Jorge (Doxa’s on-site counselor). The camping trip was the first time that some of the older kids were ever outside of the city of Tijuana. Exposure to different areas around Baja California is key to waking up each kids’ imagination and an overnight allows for some much-needed bonding time between everyone. 

Fourth was a house build. While almost all of Doxa’s houses have been built by volunteer groups from the United States, we do have a local team in Tijuana that has built houses during the pandemic when volunteer groups were unable to come. This team continues to build some houses every year and we wanted to give Doxa’s high school aged kids an opportunity to work. They suited up and went to the worksite for a week of building a house. While it was hard work, they learned about the process and are excited for the opportunity to do it again next year. 

One of the things we’ve learned over the past 15+ years of working with kids in Tijuana is that they’ve got to get out of their comfort zone to grow. They need to get out of their neighborhood and into the world, where they can have the opportunity to try, discover, and learn new things. These experiences help guide them as to what they like and don’t like. Perhaps they’ll also get the privilege of knowing just a little more of the fullness that God is calling each of them into. 

Surrounded by their parents, Ely, Flavio, and Jorge as good guiding examples, Doxa’s middle and high school aged kids can reach new heights. It was busy summer, but also an extremely rewarding and exciting one. 

Yelitza Dance Group Performance

Yelitza is the name of Doxa’s dance group, which focuses on original and historical dances from Mexican culture. Most states in Mexico have a traditional dance and accompanying clothing, which all tell a story. 

Juan Sabino is the dance instructor, who not only directs the group, but does so as a way to connect with and mentor youth. He likes to say that dance “rescues youth.” 

Annually, Yelitza performs at over 20 events all around Tijuana. They are invited to churches, private parties, dance expositions, and culture fairs. Earlier this year, they even performed on a moving flatbed trailer as part of a city-wide parade!

Every September, though, the group takes one Saturday afternoon to host a neighborhood dance event at Doxa’s community center. Parents prepare food, Yelitza presents its latest dances, and families from the neighborhood come out to support. This event also serves as a fundraiser for new dance clothing. This year’s performances did not disappoint! 

Over the course of that Saturday afternoon, Yelitza’s 20+ kids took turns dancing on stage. Showing their best moves, with parents cheering in support, and delicious smells of food circulating. Doña Lupe’s enchiladas, the Camacho’s pozole, Mar’s fresh baked bread, just to name a few that were on hand. This year the kids performed dances from states of Sinaloa and Jalisco. Over 80 people attended! 

Reflecting on the event, Juan was proud to see the older kids, especially Angel, stepping up to lead the younger ones. Most improved goes to three girls this year: Dana (9 years old), Mia (10 years old), and Viane (13 years old). Each brought down the house with their performances! Juan shares that even he was particularly surprised by the quality of their dances. 

Roberto Estella, another dance instructor in Tijuana, even brought his group (Ixchel) to dance a few songs and show support. Ixchel is a professional dance group made up of adults, but has allowed a few older kids from our Yelitza to practice with them recently. 

Also in attendance, but unknown to Juan, was the director of Tepeeg Notú, which is one of the most prestigious dance events in Tijuana. After seeing Yelitza’s kids dance, they were invited to present at Tepeeg Notú, alongside the best professional groups in Tijuana. Juan was speechless! 

All in all, a great community event! Yelitza’s kids got to show off their latest and greatest dances, Juan got more exposure and connections than planned for, funds were raised for some new dance clothing, and the community got together to show their support for these young kids. We are beyond thankful for all that is happening with Yelitza! 

Matching Campaign Recap

Last year Doxa held its first matching campaign, where donations made throughout the month of December were matched by the board of directors. We were blown away by the generosity of everyone! 

As part of that effort, we released a new video each week detailing an aspect of Doxa’s mission and impact on the ground. They included interviews with families, staff, and partners throughout Tijuana. If you missed any of those videos, we’d encourage you to take a quick look. Here they are: 

Doxa is more than just house building, video released 11/30/21.

Impacts of House Building, video released 12/8/21.

Doxa Education, video released 12/14/21.

Doxa Community, video released 12/20/21.

Doxa Partnerships, video released 12/27/21.

As the end of this year approaches, keep your eyes and ears open for when we kick-off our 2nd annual December matching campaign. All funds raised are essential to keeping Doxa’s presence active on the ground in Tijuana year-around.

Summer Camp Recap

Summer camp has become a tradition over the past decade. What started with a handful of kids during one week has grown into a month-long summer camp with over 100 children. Last year’s summer camp was canceled due to the pandemic, much to the disappointment of kids and parents alike. This year, however, we got creative and crafted a COVID-friendly summer camp.

With 84 kids and 14 volunteers, this year’s summer camp was a little smaller than usual. COVID protocols meant limiting the number of attendees, holding almost all activities outdoors, not doing any field trips, and removing the lunch component of camp. Still, everyone was eager to return to camp this year!

New offerings included activities specifically designed for middle school kids. In years past, Doxa’s camp was only open to elementary aged kids, but now many of Doxa’s students are growing up. Ely was instrumental in putting together age-appropriate offerings for middle schoolers. These included physical activity games, DARE classes by Tijuana police officers, and psychologist-led mental health and sex-education seminars.

Meanwhile, the elementary school kids were busy with the usual arts and crafts, sports games, and activities. Thankfully, there were plenty of adult volunteers around to run the various stations.

Since there were no field trips this year, Flavio and Sabino put together a water obstacle course for the last Friday of camp. Something special that we haven’t done before. Kids were split into two teams and competed against each other to see who could finish the course in the fasted time. Everyone enjoyed it so much that I think we’ve inadvertently created another summer camp tradition.

Overall, it was so good to be active, playful, and creative around one another again. For many, this summer camp was the first time in over a year that they had really been around other people or did team activities. Time to dust the wheels off and get moving again!

House Building, Education, and Community Report

Doxa’s house building, education, and community operations have been heavily impacted this year (no surprise there). The solutions of the past were not going to work as easily in a 2020 world. In order to continue Doxa’s mission, creative solutions were used. House building realized by employing local construction teams, education largely online (but some still in person), and community reimagined. 

For the first time in over a month, the local house building teams were back on the job sites. They completed two new houses over the weekend. Bittersweet, as they were the first houses built without Rosa. Still, it is good to get back to work and work at something that Rosa believed in with her whole heart. The families worked alongside Doxa’s local building teams and together the houses were completed. New green and blue structures dot the hillside in Rojo Gomez, and the Jaral Cejudo Family and the Gomez Ambriz Family now have a house to sleep in. Next up for these families is moving in and turning their house into a home. 

The education scholarship program has largely moved online, equipping all middle and high school students to learn with laptops and Internet access. A handful of the younger ones, 2nd and 3rd grade still come to Doxa and get more personalized assistance. Over the summer, we outfitted Doxa with all the necessary COVID-19 equipment and procedures in order to have smaller study groups utilize classroom space. Doxa continues to work with Hogar de los Niños and Unidos por Siempre on their education needs. Providing a dedicated tutor who comes to work with the kids on a daily basis has proved to work well in those settings. The classroom at Unidos por Siempre now functions as an in-home school for those kids. 

Admittedly, finding ways to continue the community part of Doxa’s mission has been the most challenging. Aside from providing families with some food packages, holding a parent meeting on COVID-19, and some virtual communications with families, it’s been difficult to cultivate the kind of community that Doxa is typically accustomed to. We just haven’t been able to find a way to adapt the authentic in-person, face-to-face connection that draws people to Doxa’s summer camp, parenting classes, community events, fall carnival, clubs, and activities in a COVID-19 world. While those program offerings remain on pause, God has presented an enormous opportunity in the meantime: to assemble stakeholders and form a local task force to detail out the programmatic plan of the Pedregal Community Center. Parents, neighborhood leaders, Doxa staff, and subject experts are part of this effort. Just as the design for the community center was driven by local stakeholders, so is the programmatic approach. As things continue to develop, we look forward to sharing them with you all! 

Finally, none of the reimagined house building, education, or community work could’ve been realized without your support. We are so thankful for all of the groups and individuals who have donated this year. We literally wouldn’t still be here without you! The trust that you’ve placed in Doxa to still carry out its work in the midst of a pandemic is something we don’t take lightly. The current status of Doxa’s fall/winter fundraising goals are below: 

  • 14.3 out of 20 houses funded!
  • 65 out of 50 new scholarships funded! Goal exceeded, praise God!
  • $2500 out of $2500 raised for community food packages!

We’ve met or exceeded two out of three fall/winter fundraising goals and are closing in on the third! Thank you for the outpouring of generosity for the people of Tijuana!!

Staff Spotlight: Maria Figueroa

If you haven’t met Maria yet, here’s your chance! She is the director of Unidos por Siempre orphanage and Doxa’s house building manager for East Tijuana. Her words and interview below have been translated from Spanish to English. 

My name is Maria Esther Figueroa Torres and my motivation for doing everything I do is my family, love of kids, and becoming a better person every day. I am originally from Tijuana, Baja California and what I like most about this city are the traditions, food, and people that live here. 

How did you learn about working in orphanages? 
Initially, I worked as a volunteer at Hogar de los Niños where I did all sorts of things like work with kids under 5 years old. It was then that my love and interest in working with kids started. 

How did you end up in the Rojo Gomez neighborhood of Tijuana? 
I ended up in that neighborhood because they (local land board) gave me the land to start a soup kitchen and all I had to do was construct a small house. I was already looking for somewhere else to go because of my poor financial situation and domestic violence situation with my husband.

Why did you decide to work with kids and open Unidos por Siempre orphanage? 
Because I thought about my kids growing up, how I had difficulties in providing food and supporting them in their studies. So I thought about helping other kids have better possibilities for school, food, and a dignified life. 

Since you’ve lived in Rojo Gomez, how have you seen the community change? 
I’ve lived here since 2002 and was one of the first people to move here. There have been great changes and I’ve helped to work with the government to build local schools and install running water. Working with Doxa, we’ve been able to provide dignified housing to families. 

What are the primary needs of people in Rojo Gomez? 
The most important needs are quality food, street pavement (or street grading for dirt roads), street lights, and quality houses for families. 

What do you like about your work with Unidos por Siempre?
I like to see the evolution that each child has after receiving the attention, love, and space to live freely. That they are converted into educated professionals that will have a positive impact on their community in the future. I also enjoy seeing how families react in their new houses and the ownership they have. This makes the community better little by little. 

During this time of sheltering in place due to COVID-19, what have you learned about yourself? 
I have learned more about each of the kids at Unidos por Siempre, the ways they live together and develop. My love for them and for this greater work has only continued to grow. I’ve realized that if anything happens to them, it also deeply affects me. 

Before leaving, I’d like to thank God for putting you in my path and for helping Unidos por Siempre unconditionally. I’m thankful for the boost you have provided and knowing that there are people who care about our well-being is invaluable. I send you blessings and hugs from Tijuana.